Van

I'm on a cocktail of meds for my bipolar disorder: 1500 Depakote ER, 300 Lamictal, and 50 Seroquel, and my sex drive has never been lower. The thought of sex just doesn't interest me anymore. It's also starting to affect my relationship. My girlfriend is patient with me, and I've explained that it has nothing to do with her, but it's not a great situation, and I can tell she's frustrated. I'm just confused, because I still masturbate about once a day. I've been with my girlfriend for six months now, and it's my first long term relationship in nine years. I've always been the type of guy that dates around... am I getting bored, or something? Outside of the bedroom, everything is great. Or is it really the meds? I just don't know. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

My job is an odd blend of healthcare marketing, social work, and volunteer management. As you can imagine, it is a very female-heavy field. I supervise a staff of 11, only one of which is a guy. The vast majority of them are girls who either just finished their masters degrees or have been out of college for two years. Some are cute, some are plain, one or two are really cute, and one is beautiful. Well, the beautiful one has started texting me after work and using girly emoticons. (Our staff is out in the field a lot, so everyone has each other's cell numbers) The problem is that I somehow started to develop a crush on her a few weeks ago. She's 24 and I'm 32, so I consider her to be too young. Should I just put an end to this now? Would it be better to stop responding, tell her to knock it off, or go with it? I like her, but I know that my career is more important. Has anyone else been in this situation?

Let me first off state that I am a straight guy. I am in the beginning stages of what I would call a complicated relationship. She is a Christian, and I'm an atheist. She had told me that she had been in a handful of long relationships, but they were all with men. Then she kind of dropped a bombshell on me and told me last night that her longest (4 years) and most recent relationship was with a woman and that they were very much in love. I was totally floored.

I asked her why it ended and she said that, basically, it came down to religious reasons. Their pastor had said that, ultimately, it wasn't meant to be. So she and her girlfriend separated, and it has been a year. I asked her if the pastor had said it was no problem if they would still be together, and she said yes. But she told me that that part of her life is over now. She said that, though she doesn't regret it, she thinks it was a mistake and would not do it if she could go back in time.

I know she is physically attracted to me because, even before she revealed this to me, she would tell me how handsome she thinks I am and that she likes to look at pictures of myself that I send her before she goes to bed. Experimentation is one thing, but four years!? And it's not like it's a part of ancient history- it was her most recent relationship. I thought I was okay with at first and told her so, but now I find myself thinking about it more and I'm not quite sure what to make of it or if it is something that can be reconciled. Thoughts? Can this work?

If I send an email, then delete it from my "sent" folder, and the person I sent it to deletes it after reading it, is there any record that that email ever existed? You always hear about politicians and corporate execs being brought down by email, but surely they have the common sense to delete anything incriminating, right? Basically, is it possible to completely erase, without any possibility of discovery, an electronic paper trail? It's nothing nefarious, I promise. My friend and I are just trying to protect ourselves from my litigious, sociopath ex-boss.

I opened my mail today and was surprised to find a check for $288 made out to me from Metavante Corporation. It lists a PO Box in Sioux Falls, SD and is payable through a bank in Antigo, WI. The check looks extremely real and even has heat-sensitive ink on the back. Not only that, but it has my real bank account number listed on the top left corner! I've never heard of these people before, though, and I'm pretty sure it's a scam. I think I'm gonna take it to the backyard and burn it, but I was wondering if anyone else has received a check like this.

I live in a nicely renovated concrete apartment building, which has the look of a motel, in a college town. I have neighbors below and to either side of me (I live on the third floor). I admit that I make a LOT of noise when I watch movies, and my subwoofer sometimes makes the walls shake. I try to be considerate, though, and only turn it up in the afternoon. Problem is, the new neighbor to my right has gotten more bold in her complaining.

Today she beat on my door very loudly and said "Are you kidding me? It feels like the building is coming down. It's like the apocalypse, or something." I told her that was point- I was watching a disaster movie. The first time she came over to complain I was real nice and apologetic and told her to never hesitate to tell me if it was too loud.

Now, though, things have gotten to the point where neither of us pretends to be nice about it. Today I came this close to telling her to take it up with management. I understand she has a right to peace and quiet, but I have a right to enjoy my movies, too. Also, it's not like I can wait for her to leave because she is always home and has no life (in my opinion).

How should I deal with this? Tell her to go shove it? I don't want it to escalate, but things can't go on the way they are. I am hoping to get answers from fellow audiophiles who have also had this problem. I'm not really looking for any moral lessons about respect.

side note: I met the girl who lived in the apartment before her the same way, and we ended up dating for a while; this new girl, though, is not that attractive.